{"id":834729,"date":"2026-07-31T02:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834729\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T02:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:32:14","slug":"nrl-news-2026-sam-walker-sydney-roosters-contract-talks-north-queensland-cowboys-domination-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834729\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Sam Walker Sydney Roosters contract talks, North Queensland Cowboys domination, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Walker<\/a>\u2019s sensational performance against the Cowboys<\/a> on Thursday night will only strengthen his push for a decade-long deal that would likely keep him at Bondi for life.<\/p>\n

The Maroons Origin star ran riot in Townsville as the Roosters<\/a> destroyed the Cowboys 82-12<\/a> on one of the most incredible nights of football in recent memory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Walker was superb against the Cowboys.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was the first time since 1935 a team has scored 80 points, and the third-highest score in premiership history, behind only the Dragons<\/a> (91-6 v Bulldogs<\/a>) and Roosters (87-7 v Bulldogs), both from that same 1935 season. It\u2019s the equal fourth-biggest victory in terms of deficit in premiership history.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s three tries and 12 conversions for a personal points tally of 36 was the equal-fourth highest in a game. He shares that record with Ryan Papenhuyzen<\/a>, Terry Campese, Jack Lindwall and Les Griffin. Dave Brown\u2019s 45 from that same 1935 match between the Roosters and Bulldogs continues to stand alone at the top.<\/p>\n

Walker was also credited with three try assists, seven runs, four tackle busts and four line break assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love it. I just love watching Sammy play. It looks like he\u2019s in the backyard at Ipswich, playing with his friends and his cousins,\u201d Andrew Johns<\/a> said on Nine\u2019s coverage after Walker set up Cody Ramsay for the Chooks\u2019 final try of the night.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Nine post-game, Roosters coach Trent Robinson<\/a> said it was Walker\u2019s career performance that set up the whole team\u2019s night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had maybe six runs where he got tackled, but that opened up the other points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim addressing the line like he did created so many opportunities, even right through to the end where he addressed the line, kicks through, and then Cody scored,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media, Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> said he was thrilled to have had a front-row seat to the Walker show.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a special person, he goes about his footy in his own unique way and that\u2019s what makes him so brilliant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe works hard on his game and how he can help the team so, it\u2019s been really special to come and meet Sam and connect with Sam and to get a front-row seat to that was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports emerged this week the 24-year-old and his camp were pushing for a 10-year, $1.5m-a-season deal that would be the richest in NRL<\/a> history. According to News Corp, the deal has the backing of the Roosters\u2019 billionaire chairman Nick Politis, but the club are currently only offering a five-year deal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Walker scored a hat trick and booted 12 goals.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Sam and I\u2019ve told him I want him at the Roosters for life,\u201d Politis said per News Corp.<\/p>\n

\u201cSammy has been fantastic for us. We have a great relationship and we want him to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident we can get a deal done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker is off-contract at the end of next season, and will therefore become a free agent on November 1, which means the Roosters will no doubt be eager to lock down their gun half before the Bears<\/a>, Chiefs<\/a> \u2013 or any other club for that matter \u2013 come prowling.<\/p>\n

NRL legend Cooper Cronk<\/a> said Walker deserved a \u201cdamn big contract\u201d, but warned his old club against inking a 10-year deal, which would be only the fourth in the game\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in 10-year contracts,\u201d Cronk said on Fox League\u2019s NRL Debrief.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the history of our game since 1908, how many players have actually delivered on a 10-year contract?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you have to do is you have to play the majority of those games, which is let\u2019s call it 300 games, you have to win comps, you have to be the best player.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a damn good player, and he deserves a damn big contract. But I just wouldn\u2019t be giving anyone a 10-year deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on Fox Sports, Matthew Johns said a 10-year deal was also \u201crestrictive\u201d for the player, given how much can change in their off-field personal life in a decade, particularly for a man in his mid-20s.<\/p>\n

But he conceded \u201cdesperation\u201d from clubs to sign playmakers before November 1 could see contracts beefed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate 10-year deals. I just don\u2019t think they\u2019re good for club or player \u2026 they\u2019re talking about a $1.4 or $1.5 million (a year) for 10 years. I\u2019ll tell you what, he\u2019s stated a pretty good case,\u201d Johns said on The Late Show with Matty Johns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t sign any player for 10 years. If it was me personally, I just find it restrictive. I think it lends itself to complacency. Circumstances change in terms of football but also personal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker was unsurprisingly named player of the match against the Cowboys. Despite his brilliant personal performance, he barely accepted any of the plaudits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the last couple of weeks we\u2019ve been getting the wins, but they\u2019ve been pretty ugly and we haven\u2019t put that 80-minute performance together,\u201d he told Nine\u2019s Marlee Silva.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the boys. I think every time we got a try we were really disciplined, and we got back to the basics, and we went after our game of football and didn\u2019t try and didn\u2019t try and change too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that laid a really good platform for us to be able to go out there and play our football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we did anything crazy \u2013 we competed really well, which is really good for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou obviously don\u2019t get used to score lines like that, but when they pop up they\u2019re very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Roosters now sit equal top of the ladder with the Panthers<\/a>, who will face the Raiders<\/a> on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Walker\u2019s sensational performance against the Cowboys on Thursday night will only strengthen his push for a decade-long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-834729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}